On January 31, 2025, police in Kolkata, West Bengal, India raided an illegal call center operating out of an apartment in Chowhati of Sonarpur in South 24-Parganas. 3 individuals were arrested for deceiving American citizens with a unique take on a traditional tech support scam, where:
- The scammers will generate fake virus popups that falsely claim their victims’ IP address was used for “unethical browsing”
- The scammers will answer calls under the guise of Microsoft employees and gain remote access to their victims’ computer.
- The scammers will then pose as agents with the United States Dept. of Homeland Security and falsely claim their victims’ IP addresses were used for communication in Russia.
- The victims will be asked to pay $200-400 to an American bank account that is being accessed by a Chinese money mule, who will transfer the funds to the scammers in the form of cryptocurrency.
During the raid, police seized several phones, laptops, gadgets and even a luxurious car. They have also found transactions worth an estimated $1,149,503 and are in belief that this is the first time people from China are involved in these scams.